Service History
Bayern joined the III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet on 15 July 1916, just two weeks after the Battle of Jutland. The ship would have been available for the operation, but the ship's crew, composed largely of the crew from the recently decommissioned battleship Lothringen, was given leave. At the time of her commissioning, Bayern's commander was Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) Max Hahn. Ernst Lindemann, who would go on to command the battleship Bismarck during its only combat sortie during World War II, served aboard the ship as a wireless operator.
Admiral Reinhard Scheer planned a fleet advance for 18–19 August 1916; the operation consisted of a bombardment conducted by the I Scouting Group. This was an attempt to draw out and destroy Admiral David Beatty's battlecruisers. As Moltke and Von der Tann were the only two German battlecruisers still in fighting condition, three dreadnoughts were assigned to the unit for the operation: Bayern and the two König-class ships Markgraf and Grosser Kurfürst. Admiral Scheer and the rest of the High Seas Fleet, including 15 dreadnoughts, were to trail behind and provide cover. The British were aware of the German plans and sortied the Grand Fleet to meet them. By 14:35, Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet's approach and, unwilling to engage the whole of the Grand Fleet just 11 weeks after the decidedly close call at Jutland, turned his forces around and retreated to German ports. Another sortie into the North Sea followed on 18–20 October, though the German fleet again encountered no British naval forces.
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